]]>From Jawbone to Pebble and Ouya, much has been written about the recent hardware renaissance. While investors and the press show renewed interest in hardware projects these days, taking a product from prototype to mass production is still an immense challenge. Innovation matters, but sometimes it’s the numerous logistical hurdles, from sourcing components at scale to quality control, and even shipping, that can make or break a product’s future.

Platforms are about to accelerate this hardware revolution in a big way – offering modular options at every step of the hardware process, from design to manufacturing. There’s a multi-billion dollar opportunity at play for a platform to sit on top of the design, prototyping, and distribution process. In many ways, these new platforms will do for hardware what Amazon Web Services (AWS) did for software and web development: take care of much of the logistical backend and free up those with big ideas to deliver on design.

The new steel watches from Pebble.

Hardware makers need more than capital

In the past years, crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter have aimed to spark innovation by providing easier access to capital. Likewise, Tindie lets sellers take pre-orders to help fund production. However, for hardware startups, once the barrier to capital is removed, at least ten new barriers pop up in its place. That’s why over 75 percent of hardware and product design projects on Kickstarter fail to deliver on time. The reality is that successfully commercializing a physical product takes more than access to cash.

From 10 units, to 100, to 1,000…

Over the past few years, design and prototyping have become exponentially easier, mainly due to platforms like Arduino and Raspberry Pi and design collaboration tools like Upverter and Circuits.io (which was acquired by Autodesk). Faster prototyping and cheaper manufacturing are empowering hardware experts to gain hold in an industry once dominated by multinational corporations.

New sites like Tindie offer a marketplace for these independent hardware makers to reach customers across the world. One Tindie success story is AirPi, a weather station for Raspberry Pi developed by two seventeen-year-olds in London. AirPi has made a healthy profit so far, with a running backorder list.

While Tindie’s ability to sell pre-packaged kits from hardware developers demonstrates the demand for interesting, niche hardware, it also emphasizes the difficulty in bringing product to market at scale. Currently, Tindie sells a lot of PCBs and prototype-like products. That’s because they’re easier to build and bring to market if you are an indie hardware developer. However, it’s inevitable that Tindie’s products will grow in sophistication, as long as sellers have access to sophisticated tools that help them find the right manufacturing partner to produce at scale or the right fulfillment company to help with shipping.

The mega-platform solution

Mega, ‘AWS-style’, platforms will give hardware designers with great ideas easier access to experts across the design and manufacturing industry. Quality control and shipping are complicated pieces of the manufacturing puzzle that require deep expertise and industry relationships, but they’re also incredibly easy to replicate and commercialize.

I envision a day where a hardware startup, even a hardware hobbyist, can pick and choose whatever production modules they need help with. Designers will shop for their components and sub-assemblies by browsing a universal online library of open source hardware designs. Then, the designer can one-click “order” the design from a global network of subcontractors who can address QA, manufacturing at scale, shipping, etc.

A 3D printed dragon head. Photo by Signe Brewster

In this way, the long-term value and differentiation will lie in the design; the production and distribution will be commoditized.

In addition to marketplaces like Tindie, new crowdfunding sites are emerging that specialize in hardware. For example, Dragon Innovation connects hardware startups with high-tech manufacturers to help refine designs, determine the real costs of mass production, and set realistic delivery schedules. The smartwatch Pebble, which raised $10M on Kickstarter only to experience a slew of high-profile delivery problems, ended up turning to Dragon to solve its manufacturing issues (and have since raised $15M in funding).

At present, Dragon acts more like an advisor than a platform. It’s partners perform due diligence before accepting a hardware startup and plan to charge an initial $5,000 consulting fee before a startup can begin fundraising on its platform. As seen with Pebble, Dragon’s model will work for its hand-selected startups, but it won’t work at a level of scale like we’d see with an Amazon Web Services model.

The market needs a new platform to emerge that productizes all the major elements of the hardware process, so hardware designers can pick and choose the elements that they need from start to finish.

Unleashing a new wave of hardware innovation

What will you make with the right tools?

By taking care of the manufacturing logistics, these new platforms will let inventors zero in on design without all the messy distractions of the manufacturing process. In many ways, this is similar to how much easier it is to build a website today with Amazon Web Services. Since web designers don’t have to worry about building backend infrastructure from scratch, they are free to be more creative on the front end. And, we get better websites and apps because of it.

The implications of bringing an AWS-style model to hardware will be huge, and not just for developers, but for all of us. A new generation of hardware products will help solve some of the biggest problems the world is facing today. For example, a product like BRCK can bring Internet connectivity to the developing world. Or specialized tracking devices can transform patient diagnoses in healthcare or monitor diseases that could wipe out an entire farm crop.

Easier hardware production will ultimately make the promise of the hardware revolution a reality…as long as the hardware platform goes beyond the design and prototyping phase to solve all the challenges of delivering hardware at scale.

This story was updated Sunday, Jan. 12 to clarify that 75 percent of hardware and product design projects on Kickstarter fail to deliver on time, as opposed to fail.

Boris Wertz is the founder of version one ventures and has invested in more than 40 early-stage consumer Internet and enterprise companies, including Indiegogo, Tindie and Upverter. Follow him on his blog and Twitter.

]]>Simple.tv will launch an app for its over-the-air DVR on Ouya devices next year. The app will bring live and recorded TV to the Android-based game console, provided that users also own Simple.tv’s networked DVR. The company announced Thursday that it will preview an app for Simple.tv at CES in January, where it will also show off a first implementation of a cloud DVR. Simple.tv CEO Mark Ely first told me in July that the company was thinking about adding a cloud-based DVR as a supplemental feature to its device.

]]>ARM, the British chip design firm whose technology underpins most mobile devices today, has bought another British company called Geomerics for its graphics technology.

Geomerics produces dynamic illumination technology called Enlighten, which is used mostly in PC, mobile and console games to make graphics look more natural. ARM doesn’t have much of a presence in consoles, beyond the Ouya, but its statement on Friday indicated that it would continue to support Geomerics development for such platforms.

In a Q&A post, Geomerics said it had been partners with ARM for two years and – “as ARM becomes increasingly active in the games space” – a lot of unnecessary overlap between the companies’ activities became apparent.

“ARM acquired Geomerics to further enhance their ecosystem and expertise around high end games developers in addition to the suitability of the technology for mobile devices,” the post read. “Geomerics will continue to push for the highest graphical quality across all platforms including both console and mobile.”

The Free the Games Fund was originally designed to drive new talent to Ouya’s games marketplace — the company offered developers a matching program for every dollar they raised over $50,000 on Kickstarter in exchange for 6 months of console exclusivity. However, the immediate winners of the fund drew skepticism from gamers, due to mysterious donations and high per-donor averages (often in the thousands) that led many to believe the campaigns were rigged.

Here is a quick summary of the new rules, which are meant to curb any shady dealings:

The $50,000 minimum goal to be eligible for funding has been lowered to $10,000 — provided that there is a minimum of 100 backers per increments of $10,000.

Rather that match the money raised over the goal, Ouya will match all total funds up to $250,000

Half of the money will be disbursed once the beta of the game is released, instead of a full, up-front payment. The rest of the money will reach developers after the final game goes live and after an exclusivity period comes to an end. That period is determined on the success of the campaign — Ouya demands one month per $10,000 raised.

Most importantly, Ouya now reserves the right to pull funding or disqualify any game that doesn’t align with the spirit of the contest.

As of this point, none of the games that met the original eligibility rules qualify under the new ones. Both games that have received a successful backing on Kickstarter, Gridiron Thunder and Dungeons: The Eye of Draconus, failed to qualify due to a concentrated amount of backers. In response, Dungeons creator William McDonald has pulled his game from Kickstarter and accused Ouya of adding rules late in the game.

“A person whose father was willing to make a large sacrifice so his son’s team could qualify for the fund and actually develop their game properly is disallowed,” McDonald wrote on the campaign’s update page. ” If we had remained silent we very likely would have received the funds, our transparency and honesty apparently was our undoing.”

It’s unclear whether Ouya’s late change will ultimately hurt the Free the Games fund, but it does stop the snowball of rumors and accusations from the gaming community that the fund had dishonest intent.

]]>Ouya’s Free the Games Fund is full of good intentions. By going back to Kickstarter to work with games that are currently seeking Kickstarter funds, Ouya is able to use its extra funding to match donations for indie games in exchange for Ouya exclusivity. Ouya gets to build out its title library with up-and-coming talent, and the developers can use Ouya’s exposure to bring more potential donations. It seems like a win-win for everyone involved.

So why is it going over so terribly?

For a time, the Free the Games Fund was working quite effectively. Within the first month, Ouya already had two successful candidates: indie football game Gridiron Thunder from MOGOTxt and point-and-click adventure game Elementary, My Dear Holmes! from Victory Square Games. Both titles were successfully funded with time to spare and more than met Ouya’s requirement of a funding round of $50,000. Ouya then touted the initial phase of the project as a success.

“We launched The Free the Games Fund August 9th as the first-of-its-kind fund offering $1 million in matching funds for Kickstarted games for OUYA, ensuring a steady stream of inventive and creative content into the living room and for all you fans for years to come!” the company wrote in a statement to me in late August. “To date, we have more than 30 projects registered eligible for the program with 11 campaigns are already live and two funded!”

But just as the Free the Games fund was heralding its own success, the games community felt something was fishy. Users at gaming forum NEOGAF pointed out that some of the elements of the “successful” campaigns didn’t match up and accused both games of “astroturfing” — seeding the campaign with fake accounts to reach funding goals or create buzz.

First, Gridiron Thunder has managed to rake in (as of this writing) $171,009 from just 186 backers — making the average contribution per person over $900, which is a lot to pay for a football game. A large portion of the backers are first-time funders, and none of them have disclosed how much money they have put in to the fund. Elementary, My Dear Holmes! also ran into trouble, as many of the first-time backers had suspicious profiles with celebrity photos. Campaign leader and Victory Square Games founder Sam Chandola wrote on the company’s website that once the discrepancies were brought to his attention, he asked Kickstarter to look into them.

“I was hoping our pledges would be investigated and any suspicious ones removed,” Chandola wrote. “But the project got suspended. And, to put it quite freely, that sucks.”

While Gridiron Thunder remains eligible for the Free the Games Fund — although under pressure from wary gamers — Elementary, My Dear Holmes! has been wiped from the program entirely and will not receive any form of funding. As of now, both games have been erased from the Free the Games Fund website, and Ouya released a statement on the issue last week. Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman reinforced the company’s commitment to the program. But rather than confirming or denying whether any fraud had taken place, Uhrman simply deflected the issue.

“If we can put aside the doubt and embrace the spirit of this fund as it is meant, and of OUYA as it is meant, we might just be surprised by what a little positivity can produce,” Uhrman wrote.

But, unfortunately, it appears the damage extends beyond shady dealings and suspicious funding activity. No other game has managed to cross the $50,000 threshold to qualify for extra funding thus far, and many titles are actually on the road to failing. There are also shockwaves reaching beyond the Free the Games Fund, as at least one developer, Rose & Timecreator Sophie Houlden, has withdrawn her game from the Ouya Marketplace.

“After reading Julie Uhrman’s blog post last night it became very apparent to me that the company does not support indie developers who need the support most, and that they are incapable of ever correcting their mistakes,” Houlden wroteregarding Ouya’s treatment of the Free the Games fund.

As of this point, without a controversy-free banner game to boost its prospects, Ouya is becoming haunted by its own good intent. Money is money, so it’s unlikely that many developers will turn down the opportunity to get their crowdfunding matched by Ouya, but every title will be put under the same scrutiny if it meets the funding goal. Any inconsistencies could send Ouya into a tailspin — unable to get an “honest” game for its efforts. The most recent game that has met qualifications to make the Free the Games Fund, arcade brawler Dungeons: The Eye of Draconus, is already drawing ire from funders because it has openly admitted to inflating its own funds by more than $30,000 with help from family. Very rapidly, the win-win situation Uhrman thought her company would have is rapidly turning into a lose-lose.

There are many things to learn from Ouya’s missteps, but perhaps the biggest is the flawed construction of the Free the Games Fund. To some extent, Houlden’s accusation about lack of support from Ouya isn’t unfounded — rather than pull from a pool of developers that have already made good games for the console, the company chose to look outside to Kickstarter and to unknown developers. Furthermore, Ouya’s decision to remain hands-off and very loose about the fund’s requirements makes it easy for any developer to latch onto the program for the cost of 6 months of Ouya exclusivity. It’s glaringly obvious that Ouya isn’t vetting the developers it is associating its brand with, and that could cost them the company.

Ouya, do us all a favor and pull the plug on this program. There are many ways to support the indie gaming ecosystem, but what you have now will only drive your console into more scrutiny.

If pulling from Kickstarter is the only way to widen the developer pool and secure exclusivity, why not approach developers after their projects have been successfully funded? The console company has a right to pick the games it chooses to distribute to its users, and it’s a power Ouya should exercise frequently. Instead, it will be mired in hundreds of poor, uninspired or overplayed games rather than the handful of great ones it needs to be considered relevant.

]]>After a year of anticipation (and a few delays), the $99 Ouya is finally available at retail outlets. Even better, the Kickstarter-backed indie console has already sold out online on both Amazon and GameStop, a sign that there’s demand for a cheap and flexible Android-backed gaming system.

The Ouya is a trailblazer, paving the way for the Nvidia Shield, the GameStick and even the portable VR system Oculus Rift. But there have been plenty of rough patches along the way. And if they’re not remedied, then the Android console trend could be tarnished with an untrustworthy reputation.

The first and perhaps most detrimental sin Ouya has committed since moving into production is that it’s done a great job of alienating its core fanbase — the “early backers.” Up until today, Ouya has maintained that all consoles awarded for backing the project initially on Kickstarter were shipped out in May, but plenty of early backers continued to complain about not receiving their consoles. The day before release date of the console, as the Ouya rolled out physically in stores, CEO Julie Uhrman sent a letter to backers about the issue:

Over the past few months, we encountered and conquered many challenges spanning both hardware and software in order to bring the best product we could to market. We have tried to make sure that the challenges we faced did not impact our early supporters, but unfortunately we came up short.

As a result of this misstep, some early (and mostly international) backers will have to wait another 15 to 17 days before receiving their consoles. The whole tangle has left a bitter taste in the mouths of what was expected to be the Ouya’s core fanbase, following the company’s decision to put retailers ahead of the people.

The second problem with the Ouya is the perceived lack of polish and features from both the hardware and software perspective. When the original review consoles went to journalists in March, first impressions were tepid at best: the hardware felt chintzy, the software was lacking, and the UI was confusing. Ouya took the criticism, raised another round of funding, delayed the first shipment, and spent time retooling the console.

While the new Ouya console has made strides in the wake of its lackluster development model — including a redesigned controller and updated firmware to address the UI hiccups — it’s far from perfect. Although games are free to play, the console requires credit card information to even access any kind of software. Worse, there really isn’t much software at all, at a paltry 175 games, and what’s available is not great: A quick scan of the top-rated games from Ouya show a handful of emulators, but original titles lack any flash (or reputation) to bring gamers to the device.

All in all, things aren’t expected to be perfect with an independent console system — especially the first one for a company. However, the glaring problems with the Ouya could place a black mark on all Android consoles as a whole, and that’s a shame.

Gamers are a fickle and stubborn bunch, and even major players like Microsoft are oftentimes forced to walk back unfavorable situations to something more palatable for the community. At this point, loyal gamers feel like they’ve been duped, cheated, and lied to, so Ouya needs to work double-time over the next six months to bring the console up to par.

A string of great games that don’t require emulators or tricky hacking to run would be a great first step, as would an extra gift to early backers for the delay in execution. With the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One coming down the pike, this is Ouya’s only shot to win back the favor it has unceremoniously lost.

]]>The console era is over — or so a growing number of game-industry executives would have us believe. While social and mobile gaming have taken a sizable share of the video games market, there is room for growth for hardware, particularly in streaming technology and the emergence of open-source platforms.

The release of the hardware and software should give developers time to prepare games for the platform, which is expected to be released to the public around March. That’s still the milestone that everyone will be watching but the signs look good for Ouya to make it there.

An early look at the Ouya UI

The company has been under a lot of scrutiny since it debuted as a Kickstarter project in July. The $99 console, built off the Android platform, raised $8.6 million from more than 63,000 backers. That has raised expectations and also concerns about whether the system is for real and can deliver as promised. We chatted with CEO and founder Julie Uhrman shortly after the launch — she assured us that it wasn’t rocket science putting Ouya together and that she was confident Ouya will hit the market by this spring.

The developer console still has plenty of bugs, Ouya has warned developers, and the triggers and D-pad on the controller are not final. Developers will also get a look at an early version of the console UI.

Following a recent CNN report that most of the biggest Kickstarter projects were shipping late, it’s nice to see that Ouya is keeping to its promise. We still don’t know what the quality and experience is like and what the game library will ultimately be. And as Kickstarter has pointed out, it’s not always important that projects ship on time if the end result suffers. But this thing looks like it’s for real.

]]>Kickstarter’s records have been smashed by Ouya, a $99 Android-based video game console that promises to bring affordable games to the television. The project, which originally set out to raise $950,000, is now up to $5.7 million pledged from more than 47,000 backers with 10 left to go.

Built using standard components like a Tegra 3 quad-core processor and hackable, Ouya will create a new platform for developers looking to bring both casual and hardcore games to the living room. The console, which is being designed by famed designer Yves Behar, will work with a standard controller that includes a touchpad. Developers will be able to use an SDK to create an array of titles, which will all have a free component to them.

I talked by phone last week with Ouya’s CEO and founder Julie Uhrman, who first conceived of Ouya while leading digital distribution and business development for gaming site IGN. We talked about the rising skepticism about the project and how Ouya is working to deliver the goods.

Ryan: Talk about the deal with OnLive. How did that come about and does that change the nature of your console?

Julie: There’s a lot of content and games that we want for Ouya and we listen to our audience. They wanted OnLive so I made it a point to go out get them. OnLive signals some of the types of partnerships we can have on Ouya. The idea is we can have streaming and downloadable content. Because it’s open and built on Android, all different kinds of content would be available: games, videos, streaming and music content. Ouya is about being open and bringing the best content to gamers and anyone who enjoys entertainment. We don’t think OnLive’s content cancels out any publishers or developers, it enhances the platform.

Julie: We have every confidence that we will do this. The technology isn’t rocket science, it’s standard stuff combined in a new way and wrapped in a beautiful package. It’s been incredibly embraced by gamers and developers. We get hundreds of emails from developers wanting to develop for the platform; the idea of openness of Ouya has resonated. Until we have things on store shelves, we can’t prove things and there will be questions but most (developers) say they want Ouya or something like this to succeed. We have vetted our process, capped the amount of units we are shipping on day one and we have great advisors, who have built great hardware and software. We feel very confident we will deliver in March.

Ryan: So where did this idea come from? What was your vision?

Julie: I was part of the game industry for a long time and I saw AAA developers leaving for mobile. But if you interview gamers, the number one platform is the TV. The most time is spent in the living room, even for mobile games. The experience is better on a TV but all the excitement and growth was in mobile. I grew up on TV games and I wanted to bring it back and I saw an opportunity for a device that has Android as its operating system. The value proposition is there. People don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on a console. Ouya is $99 and games are free to play. What’s not to like?

Ryan: But building an ecosystem is hard work. Trying to court and keep developers and convince them there’s money to be made here is not easy. What are you planning to do to ensure that Ouya is appealing to developers?

Julie: The one thing that is always important to remember is this is still a product in development. We are focused on creating a great product. Kickstarter is opening up a two-way dialogue with folks who will benefit and we’re incorporating their feedback. People are incredibly excited. The developer conversations are incredibly well. You aint seen nothing yet.

Ryan: What has Kickstarter meant to you and what does the added money allow you to do?

Julie: It’s been a phenomenal platform for us and allowed us to create a dialogue with an audience of gamers and developers. We knew this was the only way to get to market quickly, raise money and bring this idea to fruition. Our goal was to hit $950,000 and we knew we could deliver units and even provide tools and support for developers with that. Anything over that is truly unbelievable and it means we can build more tools.